Ossianix Expands And Extends Its Research Collaboration With H. Lundbeck A/S On CNS Therapeutics

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ossianix, Inc. today announced an expansion and extension of its strategic research collaboration with H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck). This collaboration follows a previous equity investment in 2012 and prior research collaboration in 2013. The collaboration will use Ossianix’s innovative single domain antibody platform based on the shark VNAR structure to deliver next generation CNS biotherapeutics.

“We are pleased to continue the collaboration with Ossianix. The delivery of biopharmaceuticals across the BBB remains a key area for us and we hope that with Ossianix we can make leaps forward for the benefit of patients suffering from brain diseases”

Ossianix’s has developed a novel Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) targeting technology for the delivery of biopharmaceuticals including antibodies to treat CNS disorders. The BBB platform technology part of the agreement, gives Lundbeck access to a patented suite of cross species reactive VNAR tools that allow tailoring of products to individual therapeutic needs. Ossianix will work with Lundbeck on multiple targets aligned with Lundbeck’s therapeutic goals. The collaboration will additionally continue to work on the ligand-gated P2X3 ion channel expressed on sensory neurons for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Lundbeck will fund the research plan with development and regulatory milestones and a joint research committee will manage the projects. A third component of the agreement provides an additional equity investment for Ossianix to advance it own therapeutic programs.

Dr. Frank Walsh, Ossianix CEO, stated: “ Lundbeck has been a partner and supporter of Ossianix since 2012. The significant progress we have made in the last year in developing innovative approaches to developing targeted CNS biotherapeutics and in approaching difficult membrane-associated targets has convinced Lundbeck to continue to work with us in a highly collaborative way. We look forward to further moving products toward the clinic in the next phase.”

Kim Andersen, Senior Vice President of Global Research at Lundbeck said: “We are pleased to continue the collaboration with Ossianix. The delivery of biopharmaceuticals across the BBB remains a key area for us and we hope that with Ossianix we can make leaps forward for the benefit of patients suffering from brain diseases”

About Ossianix

Ossianix is a privately held research company based in Philadelphia, PA with research laboratories in the UK. It develops novel biopharmaceuticals for a number of therapeutic areas including CNS. The company utilizes the versatile single domain shark VNAR scaffold to engineer unique differentiated products in a variety of formats including monospecific and bispecifics. The company was founded by former senior executives from Wyeth and Pfizer, Drs. Frank S. Walsh, Corey S. Goodman and J. Lynn Rutkowski. Ossianix is currently funded by Lundbeck, BioAdvance and other angel investors as well as non-dilutive grants. For more information please visit www.ossianix.com.

About Lundbeck

H. Lundbeck A/S (LUN.CO, LUN DC, HLUYY) is a global pharmaceutical company specialized in brain diseases. For more than 50 years, we have been at the forefront of research within neuroscience. Our key areas of focus are alcohol dependence, Alzheimer’s disease, bipolar disorder, depression/anxiety, epilepsy, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, stroke and symptomatic neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (NOH). An estimated 700 million people worldwide are living with brain disease and far too many suffer due to inadequate treatment, discrimination, a reduced number of working days, early retirement and other unnecessary consequences. Every day, we strive for improved treatment and a better life for people living with brain disease – we call this Progress in Mind.

Read more at www.lundbeck.com/global/about-us/progress-in-mind.

Our approximately 6,000 employees in 57 countries are engaged in the entire value chain throughout research, development, production, marketing and sales. Our pipeline consists of several late-stage development programmes and our products are available in more 100 countries. We have research centres in China, Denmark and the United States and production facilities in China, Denmark, France and Italy. Lundbeck generated revenue of approximately DKK15.3 billion in 2013 (EUR2.1 billion; USD2.7 billion).

For additional information, we encourage you to visit our corporate site www.lundbeck.com.

About BioAdvance

BioAdvance is a leading early-stage life sciences investor, with investments in 62 life science start-up companies and academic technologies. To date eleven portfolio companies have had an exit and almost $1.8B in follow-on capital (including M&A) has been attracted. The BioAdvance portfolio companies are developing 70 products to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and infectious disease, and seven products have been approved by the FDA to date.

For more information or to apply for funding please visit www.bioadvance.com.

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